Balancing the Roles of Mother, Wife, & Speech Pathologist by Laura Scandalis Cross, M.A. SP

I LOVE being a mom.  My little girl is 13 months now.  She is truly amazing and is walking and talking like it’s nobody’s business! I love it!  But let’s be honest, life is a bit crazy at times as I try to juggle the roles of being a wife, mom, and SLP! If you are like me, you probably feel like you are performing a juggling act 24/7 as you try to meet the demands that come with being a wife, mom, and speech pathologist.

I have the great privilege of introducing to you a friend and mentor in the field of Speech Pathology, Laura Scandalis Cross, MA-SLP.  I am grateful that she has taken me under her wing and imparted to me some of her wisdom.  I asked her if she would be interested in writing a post for you all and she was more than willing to share some of her journey and the life lessons she learned along the way.  Laura is an inspiration and has ‘been there-done that’ and made it through with flying colors!  From wife, to mommy, to speech pathologist and business owner of one of the largest private practices in the state of California, she has first hand experience at doing that oh-so-crazy juggling act and has learned what really matters most in life.
If you’ve never had a mentor, I’ll be lending you my dear friend Laura for a few posts.  I know you will love her as much as I do. Today she shares with us what she learned on her journey as a mom, wife, and SLP and how she finally learned that life is all about balance.  So without further ado..here’s Laura!
 

Thank you for your interest in my adventures from newly married, sole proprietor of a private practice to my present life where I continue to reap the rewards of the journey.

In my opinion, the perfect combination for a life balance (once I found a scale) has been being a mother, wife and private practice speech pathologist.  But how can one person take on three enormous titles, each one demanding between 75% and 110% of Self, and succeed in any of them?

It took years of on the job(s) learning, observing, failing, adjusting and . . . succeeding.  I began the journey becoming pregnant, thinking it would be a breeze to write my reports, call my folks, do my billing, make follow-up phone calls, clean the house, plan for tomorrow’s therapies, think through marketing ideas, have a girlfriend over to chat, do the laundry and say hi to . . .what is my husband’s name?. . . when the baby was “sleeping”.

By the time of our second baby (who knows how I had time just to become pregnant) I had given up all former Self activities; No phone calls or dates with girlfriends, only hurried calls to parents and family.  The rumors of lunchtime, beauty parlors, sports, mani-pedi’s and . . . what is a massage? These were only distant memories.
That is the “before” scenario when I was harried and forever thwarted at having only 24 hours in a day.  Once I realized that was indeed the case, I allocated my time by prioritization.
Family first, job second. I didn’t realize until many years later that taking care of one’s Self should’ve been in the top priorities.
Each of us has our own sense of prioritization.  Mine was (1) be a loving, present mother (2) spend weekends and evenings with husband and kids (3) while babies were 0 – 5, work 3 days/week; once they were in school, work until they came home.
My next blog will detail how I achieved and maintained this balance. The first installment will be those early years in which I rarely slept and did a bad job of baby-sitter consistency. My children and marriage survived.  We have two wonderfully loving, successful, and happy adult daughters and 45 years of marriage behind us. (We wed when I was two.)
I’m now semi-retired after having founded, grown and then sold The Cross Speech Rehabilitation Agency which covers the state of California from Beverly Hills to San Francisco and from the coast to the Arizona border… and still thrives.
I look forward to sharing my wisdoms that I gleaned through many years of trial and error, listening and learning, and now sharing. It has all be a joyful, lively journey that never ends.  I wouldn’t have changed it for any other existence. Thank you for listening.
Laura Scandalis Cross
Mother, Wife, Speech Pathologist
 

In 1974, Laura Scandalis Cross founded the Cross Speech Rehabilitation Clinic, treating patients from Monterey to Beverly Hills to Bishop, California.  She sold the Clinic in 2000 in order to travel, hike, and play.  She and her husband of 44 years, enjoy extensive world travels with frequent trips to San Francisco to visit family.  A wilderness hiker, she encorporates pieces of nature into her multi-media works.  Painting has become a regular part of her semi-retired life in Solvang and Bishop, California.  If interested in receiving updates on her latest works or commissioning for a personalized work, please call her at 805-637-0939.